Spencerport dominates Class A finals
The Rangers win their 10th straight team championship and four individual weight classes
Democrat and Chronicle, By Jeff DiVeronica

"Who you here to root for?" one area wrestling fan asks another.

"Anyone on my son's team and anyone going against a Spencerport kid."

Exaggeration? No way.

The Rangers have long been the team everyone loves to hate. Winning will do that." "Our kids have accepted it," coach Bill Jacoutot said.

Their own fans cheer loudly. Seems like most others come to life when any wrestler does something well against one of Spencerport's.

With a school-record eight Ranges reaching the finals of the Section V Class A tournament, plenty of that went on last night at Webster.

Spencerport silenced its critics early. Its first three finalists - sophomore Shawn Hibbs (103 pounds), junior Gary Borelli (112) and junior Bill Merle (119) - won titles. Its next four lost, though, before 275-pound Greg Frisch finished the night with the Ranger's fourth championship, one shy of the school record.

Spencerport again easily outdistanced the field to extend its sectional record to 10 straight team titles. The Rangers had 17 points; second-place Brockport had 115.

The top four finishers in each weight advance to next weekend's SuperSectionals, the state-tournament qualifier.

"It got me pumped up," Hibbs said when asked how it felt to hear the crowd roar when he fell behind 5-0 to Penfield's Joe Lacagnina. "It makes me want to win even more to shut them up."

He did, scoring seven unanswered points.
"Most kids give up after they're down 5-0," said Jacoutot, named the Class A coach of the year.

Borelli, a two-time Class A champ, won by default over last year's 96-pound winner, Pat Beach of Greece Olympia, and Merle topped Brockport junior Dan Lipson 5-1.

"Since the Teike-Bernabi Tournament our kids have been very consistent. We had a lot of one-point losses that night," referring to the embarrassing evening when Spencerport didn't win the team title at its own event. "Since then we've poured it on. We upped the ante in our practices."

The Rangers, winners of 18 Monroe County titles, including eight straight, are state-ranked No.2.

There were other big wins last night.

Pittsford freshman Troy Forte (40-0, 96 pounds) and Greece Olympia senior Don Carlo-Clauss (33-0), the defending state champion at 140, kept their perfect records.

"He's worked so hard, we sort of expected this," Pittsford coach Ernie DiBella, who won a state title in 1969, said of Forte. "His goal is not just to get to states but to win."

Canandaigua (Wes Bennett, Nate Parmenter), Brockport Dan Williams, Mahnseah Boley) and Rush-Henrietta (Shamir Rhodes, Dan Chase) all had two champions. Fairport junior Jake Boerman (189) also repeated, edging Gates Chili junior Mark Altobelli, who he had lost to twice previously, 4-3.

Rhodes (34-2) locked up with Spencerport's Jason Brongo (30-6), a runner-up last year, at 135 in one of the night's best matches. Rhodes used a takedown for a 4-3 lead but Brongo got up and out for an escape with nine seconds left to force OT.
Just when Brongo looked like he was near a takedown in OT, Rhodes came through with 12 seconds left to win 6-4.

The lowest seed to win was Hilton sophomore Pat Hanscomb (21-9), No.7. He handled top-seeded Joe Campopiano of Spencerport 9-4 at 130. "I think tomorrow it'll hit me I won," he said.

Just make sure it's not on the hand. Hanscomb missed sectionals last year with a broken left hand suffered during wrestling, then missed the start of this season when he fractured the same hand in football.

Perhaps the biggest winner was Franklin junior Michael Brown. Fifth-seeded at 171 with a record of 18-1, he flattened No.3 Jason MacCartney of Gates Chili in 18 seconds.